Author: Ann Laemmlen Lewis

Thank you for visiting! I hope you enjoy the things shared here.

Heusenstamm Castle and Old Town

Our Saturday was a little more local than usual.  This morning we helped one of our Offenbach members move to a different apartment.

In Germany, when a family moves out of a house, they take everything, including the kitchen–with all of the cabinets, counters and appliances. In the bedrooms, all closets and built-in pieces come out. The place is left an empty shell. If you don’t take it all with you, you put it out on the street and others take it until the trash men haul it away.

After the move was complete, we asked a local friend if there was any place in the area we should visit.  We had 2 hours to spend before going to a missionary choir practice.  We were in Heusenstamm and told there was a castle there that was nice to visit, with “a lovely walk around the grounds.”

So off we went, to find the castle.  It was in a local neighborhood near the old Hauptbahnhof.  This lovely lane of Lindon trees welcomed us.  We were the only ones in sight.  It was peaceful and beautiful walking around the grounds.  Today the city hall meets here.

Old ponds on the property once fed into a moat around the castle.

There are 2 different castles on this property.  In front of the castle there is a small park, a remnant of a formerly extensive orangery , which can still be clearly recognized by the castle ponds and the castle avenue in front of it. The castle is surrounded by a now drained moat that was once fed with water from the Bieber. There are still remnants of the former manor garden: these include the Kaiser linden avenue, which was newly planted in 1995, in the entrance axis and two ponds on both sides outside the palace area. Today’s baroque garden was recreated in more modern times.

Behind the front castle is this second castle:

The rear castle today consists of a residential building and a separate tower, the so-called Bannturm. It stands on the site of the old castle of the Lords of Heusenstamm. The old castle was destroyed, rebuilt and rebuilt several times. Especially at the beginning of the 15th century and in the middle of the 16th century (secured in 1561). The Thirty Years’ War in particular caused great destruction.

The date on this castle in the back is 1561.

After wandering around the 2 old castles, we walked into the old part of town, enjoying the feel of it.

This gate is the entrance to the old part of town:

This old Catholic parish church, called “St. Cäcilia” was built in 1739 by Johann Balthasar Neumann.  It has a famous frescoed ceiling by Christoph Thomas Scheffler (1741).

I love the care taken in theses churches to make things beautiful.

The choir seats:

A confessional:

Sometimes you can see the old under the new or restored, like in this house:

After a stop at a wonderful Backerei and some good pastries, we went to Offenbach to practice with a missionary choir.  We’ll be singing at Stake Conference next week.

Then we went home to do laundry and prepare food for the coming week.  It was nice to hunker down for the rest of the day.

Game Night with the Frankfurt Couples

We had a really fun activity this evening for the missionary couples serving here.  The Edgingtons were in charge this time.  They planned 2 fun games and asked everyone to bring their favorite STORE BOUGHT cookies to share.  We got to sample new things.  The stores are already filling with Christmas treats and cookies and it’s fun to sample these local treats.

Hot chocolate and marshmallows were provided.

The first game we played was a guessing game.  We divided into 4 groups and each group sat in a circle.  Two teams played against each other.  The Edgingtons gave one person from each group a word.  That person had to go back to their group and was only allowed to answer YES or NO to questions while the rest of the group tried to guess the word.  Which every team guest it first got to steal a person from their opponents.  It was a lot of fun.  The words were people, places or things, living or not, man-made or not.  The first team to absorb their opponent won.

The other game was called “Heads Up.”  we stood in 4 circles, shoulder to shoulder, facing each other.  We were all told to look down at our feet.  Then when we were told to “Look Up,” we each had to look at another person in the circle.  If that person happened to be looking right back at you, both had to step out of the circle and it got smaller.  Last persons standing were the winners.  It was also really fun.

After the games, we enjoyed the treats and visiting with friends.

We Really enjoy our friends here.  These are outstanding people who have given up things (like being with family) to be here.  I call it consecration.  It changes them.  It changes us.

“My Lord Will Have Need of Me”

Here’s my article for the November Senior Missionary Newsletter:

“My Lord Will Have Need of Me”
 
In Elder Rasband’s recent October 2023 General Conference address, as an Apostle of Jesus Christ, he invited each of us to serve as a missionary in the gathering of Israel. Elder Rasband invited us to “take your know-how, coupled with your time-honored testimonies” and go and serve.  We have each answered that call.  We are here!
 
Each one of us has an interesting story about how we came to be here.  And we’ve each had experiences that have prepared us in particular ways for the work we are doing now.  We are not usually asked to do a job that is unfamiliar to us, but often our assignments are challenging and perhaps out of our comfort zone.  Perhaps some of us feel underutilized or like we could be doing more.
 
There is a powerful paragraph in the missionary handbook, Adjusting to Missionary Life that talks about serving from our strengths: 
 
Make a list of your strengths, talents, and spiritual gifts. Your strengths are part of the Lord’s storehouse, from which He draws to bless His children and build His kingdom. A crucial part of your mission is to cultivate your gifts and consecrate your strengths to help others come to Christ. Focus more on what you do well than on what you do wrong. Plan ways each week to develop and use your gifts to serve and bless others (see D&C 82:18–19).
 
It may feel awkward to talk out loud about the things you are good at, but it’s important that we think about our own specific gifts and talents so we can figure out how to use them.  
 
Heavenly Father created us.  He gave us what we have.  He made us who we are.  He wants us to use the gifts we’ve been given to help or succor others (see Mosiah 2:34; 4:16).  King Benjamin invites us to “succor those that stand in need of your succor.”  Pay careful attention your gifts and how you can use them.  Also notice gifts others have and compliment them, praise them, and celebrate their unique offerings, as they use their strengths in our missionary zone and in our areas of service.  
 
There are missionaries among us who have life-long careers that have prepared them for specific work here.  There are missionaries here who have particular hobbies or talents that are now put to use.  There are some who are happy, friendly, and helpful to everyone around them, able to step in to help wherever they are needed.  Every gift or talent represented here is a part of the Lord’s storehouse from which he draws to bless others here, now.  Thank you for your willingness to be here now, sharing in ways that only you can.
 
Activity:  Look at your Patriarchal Blessing.  Pay attention to any spiritual gifts, talents, or strengths that are mentioned there.  List them.  Now add to that list any other gifts, talents, interests, or hobbies you may have—things that you are good at.  Be generous with yourself.  Then look for ways to use those gifts in your service here!  You will be a blessing to others in more ways than you can imagine!
 

The Last Palace

A few months ago John and I listed to the audio book, The Last Palace by Norman Eisen.  It was fascinating.  We really wanted to find this place while we were in Prague this weekend.  Imagine how thrilled we were to learn this residence, now the home of the US Ambassador to the Czech Republic, is a five minute walk from the LDS Stake Center!  Of course we went to see it today after our church meetings.

Here is the book summary from Goodreads:

A masterfully told and immersive narrative about the last hundred years of European history, as seen through an extraordinary mansion – and the lives of the people who called it home

When Norman Eisen moved into the US ambassador’s residence in Prague, returning to the land his mother had fled after the Holocaust, he was startled to discover swastikas hidden beneath the furniture. These symbols of Nazi Germany were remnants of the residence’s forgotten history, and evidence that we never live far from the past.

From that discovery unspooled the twisting, captivating tale of four of the remarkable people who had called this palace home. Their story is Europe’s, and The Last Palace chronicles the upheavals that have transformed the continent over the past century. There was the optimistic Jewish financial baron Otto Petschek, who build the palace after World War I as a statement of his faith in democracy, only to have that faith shattered; Rudolf Toussaint, the cultured, compromised German general who occupied the palace during World War II, ultimately putting his life at risk to save the house and Prague itself from destruction; Laurence Steinhardt, the first postwar US ambassador, whose quixotic struggle to keep the palace out of Communist hands was paired with his pitched efforts to rescue the country from Soviet domination; and Shirley Temple Black, an eyewitness to the crushing of the 1968 Prague Spring by Soviet tanks, who determined to return to Prague and help end totalitarianism – and did just that as US ambassador in 1989.

Weaving in the life of Eisen’s own mother to demonstrate how those without power and privilege moved through history, The Last Palace tells the dramatic and surprisingly cyclical tale of the endurance of liberal democracy.

A high wall now surrounds the residence, but this is what you can see from the outside:

Having the history from this book in our heads really enhanced our experience this weekend, especially our walk on Wenceslas Square, where the Czech Republic welcomed democracy in 1989.  It was good to be in the place where it happened.

After this last bit of sightseeing, we took an Uber to the airport and headed back home to Frankfurt.

Czechia Annual Communication Seminar

Here we are on our way to “work!”  Who gets to work in places like this??  We do!!

Equally beautiful in the sunshine!

The Palace this morning:

We met our communication friends and their families at a fun black light mini golf place where we had a really fun morning.

Then we got on some public transport that took us to the other side of town where the Stake Center is.

This is the Prague Stake Center.  The Mission President Skousen and his family live on the top floor.

Missionaries live across the street and use the building for teaching.  These Sisters joined our meetings today–one from Ukraine and one from the USA.

This is the Relief Society room and kitchen where we set things up for our seminar meetings.

The entry:

To the left of the entry is this room for teaching:

The back of the building and pizza delivery for our group:

After lunch we met until evening.

Pres and Sis Skousen:

This is a wonderful and vibrant team of communication specialists who are making news and reporting news here in Czechia.  A couple more joined us remotely.  We had a great day with them!